The invention relates to gas turbine engines, and more particularly to finger seals used in gas turbine engines.
Gas turbine engines operate according to a continuous-flow, Brayton cycle. A compressor section pressurizes an ambient air stream, fuel is added and the mixture is burned in a central combustor section. The combustion products expand through a turbine section where bladed rotors convert thermal energy from the combustion products into mechanical energy for rotating one or more centrally mounted shafts. The shafts, in turn, drive the forward compressor section, thus continuing the cycle. Gas turbine engines are compact and powerful power plants, making them suitable for powering aircraft, heavy equipment, ships and electrical power generators. In power generating applications, the combustion products can also drive a separate power turbine attached to an electrical generator.
Components such as seals are used in gas turbine engines and act to seal off cavities from one another. During operation seals can experience increased temperatures and varying pressures that cause extreme stresses on the seal and can additionally cause the seals to change shape in undesirable manners.